Hubris
by Squeeb100
Summary: After Mabel chooses Stan over him, Dipper wanders the forest, confused, heartbroken and feeling betrayed by his family. Determination suddenly sparks in him as he decides to discover the secrets of GF on his own, and his plan is furthered by his encounter with a certain triangle... Hubris: a great or foolish amount of pride or confidence (Merriam Webster). POST NOT WHAT HE SEEMS.
1. The Deal

**My first GF fic...my Soul Eater and Zelda ones have NOT been frequented so...maybe this will be? IDK. We shall find out, shan't we? I tried to make this more to the point because I've been told that I really write too much (especially with my SE stuff XD).**

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There were three things that Dipper hated in the world. These things were: When Mabel dipped both of their toothbrushes in maple syrup and then just left them out so that the sugar crystallized and the bristles got all stiff and sickeningly sweet (Dipper had never understood, nor had he been interested, in why she did this), not knowing something that he should or could, and betrayal.

The toothbrush thing was actually more of a pet peeve of his; he found the other two things far more irksome and, to put it plainly, maddening. Enraging. And, at times, heartbreaking.

_Betrayal_.

He should have heeded the book's instructions. He shouldn't have trusted anyone – but he hadn't thought that this included his immediate (or, perhaps, not so immediate, he thought grimly) family.

Dipper growled again in frustration, kicking a fallen tree that he came across in his blind trek through the woods, and subsequently grimacing, leaning over, and massaging his sore foot. _Why_ was he so stupid? He sat down with a huff on the very log that had injured him, setting Journal No. 3 next to him. _TRUST NO ONE. _The book had _told_ him, for crying out loud, and here he was, an idiot who had ignored the instructions. _Of course_ Stan hadn't been what he seemed, but what was he? Were they even related? Was the author really Stan's brother? Was the author of the books related to the twins?

_The twins._ No. No. There weren't any twins. And Dipper didn't care. He didn't give a damn anymore. The _mystery twins_. Augh! Why was he so stupid? The mystery twins had never existed – Mabel had never cared about him, had she? She had never done anything for him, had she? It was always Dipper, it was he who would always come to _her_ rescue. Not _once_ that summer had she done _anything_ for him. When she had fallen in love with Mermando, it was _Dipper_ who had helped her let him go. He'd frikin' _kissed_ the guy for her! When Mabel lost Waddles to Pacifica, _Dipper _had given up on his quest to save Wendy from Robby to help her. When the crazy puppet kid came to town? Mabel hadn't even _noticed _Dipper's lack of sleep, hadn't even _noticed_ that he was possessed, and yet he postponed working on the laptop to put up with another of his sister's crazy whims.

And then there was that moment, that heartbreaking, bewildering moment:

_"Mabel, do I look like a bad guy to you? Please, I swear, everything I have done up until this moment has been for the good of this family."_

_"Mabel, don't! He could by lying!"_

_She had looked back and forth frantically as both parties, both people she loved, had pleaded for her to listen, to do the _right thing._ Clearly, she had had her priorities all figured._

_"Grunkle Stan, I trust you."_

Maybe she didn't even care about him. After all, she had chosen to trust the word of a man they knew practically nothing about over that of her own twin. And Dipper had thought that she _cared_. He had though that they were the mystery twins. More than that. He had thought them inseparable, best friends. He trusted her and she trusted him. Hah. What a joke.

_"I swear, it's unnatural for siblings to get along as well as you two do."_

Well, Dipper thought. If she didn't care about him, he didn't care about her. He didn't need her. He didn't need anyone. He could do this by himself. He didn't even need the author – he would just keep looking for secrets, secrets that no one, never, had _ever_ learned about Gravity Falls. And he would do it _by himself._ He would write three more journals, new journals – hell, _ten_ more! He would become great. He would know everything that there was to know, and he would never, _never_, be stupid enough to let anyone take advantage of him ever again.

"Yes," he said with resolution. "Yes. I'll become greater than he ever was. The author. Stan. Anyone." He stood up, but was suddenly knocked back to his feet, blinded.

He screamed.

"Yeesh kid, yeesh. Calm down, kid," a voice resonated through the air. Dipper, although still blinded, recognized the voice and scrambled backward until the rough bark of the tree scraped his back. Shielding his eyes with one hand, the squinting boy looked into the light.

"What do _you_ want?" he spat. "Here to make fun of me, right? Laugh in the face of that idiot kid who was so _blinded_ by his childish determination that he was taken advantage of? Or are you here to take advantage of me yourself?"

"Whoah there, Pine Tree, chillax," the demon chuckled, dimming the halo of light that surrounded him and tipping his hat so that Dipper's back was dragged along the tree, then replacing it so that he was dragged in the opposite direction before coming to a halt. "No hard feelings. I just did the job that the little pig-man gave me."

Dipper stood up and rubbed his sore back, grimacing. "Yeah, and then you possessed me and tried to take over my sister's puppet show."

"No hard feelings, I just wanted a vessel – just for a bit," Bill Cipher repeated. "And now, I can't help but notice that you're in a bit of a...shall we say..." the demon disappeared, and Dipper was startled when he reappeared behind his back, Book No. 3 in hand. "...predicament?" To emphasize his point, the triangle flipped to the page that made up a third of the blueprint for the portal.

"What do you care?" Dipper growled.

"I'm all for helping people, kid. When you're a demonic manifestation of pure energy, life can get a little dull. I'm in for the ride, and your life, well, it's one hell of a ride." Bill's eye seemed to smile as a grin crept into his voice. "Did you know," he asked, handing the book to Dipper, who hugged it to his chest in discomfort, "that I know all of the mistakes in that book?"

"Mistakes?"

"Yes, mistakes. Remember when you were at that party with your little girlfriend, that angel...Pacific Northwest, was it?"

"Pacifica. And she's not my girlfriend," Dipper cried indignantly. "What does that matter?"

"Well, your precious little book wasn't of much use to you then, was it? But you were smart enough to figure out what this little thing," Bill tapped the journal, "couldn't tell you."

A bit of Dipper's broken pride was restored. "Hey, yeah. I did. But how did you know that?"

"Oh, I know lots of things, kid," Bill grabbed the edge of the journal, but Dipper refused to hand it over to him. "What are you doing? That's not yours!" The boy yelled.

"It's not yours, either, is it, Pine Tree?" the demon pointed out, relinquishing his grasp on the tattered book. "Why are you so attached to it in the first place? I told you, kid, I know lots of things – and with my knowledge and your smarts, we could write ten journals, easy."

"How did you..."

"And," Bill broke in, "I haven't told you the best part. It comes with revenge. On your uncle, on your _sister..._"

"What do you mean?" Dipper asked.

"I know a place with enough secrets to fill up one book by itself. And all you need to do to get there, kid..." Bill extended a hand as it spontaneously combusted into vibrant blue flames, "Is shake my hand."

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, kid. I told ya. I'm in this for the fun, you're in it for the knowledge, we both want...revenge...so, it works out for everyone!" Bill said cheerfully.

Dipper rubbed the back of his neck, considering. This _was _a golden opportunity to learn everything he had ever wanted to, as well as get back at Stan and Mabel. It was like killing two birds with one stone, and all he had to do was shake Bill's hand...

"I'm in," he decided, watching blue flames travel up his arm. "Now show me that place you were talking about."

"Gladly," Bill agreed. "But first, we need to make a little stop somewhere."

Dipper smirked and followed the floating triangle through the dark woods. At last, he was on his way to knowledge. He didn't even notice when he dropped the journal that he had clung to so desperately all summer. Didn't notice that the book that he had carried everywhere, relied on, was now lying in the leaf mold, dappled with the shadows of leaves. He didn't notice that, upon impact, it had flipped open.

And that a single page lay exposed to the moonlight, the pleading words of another owner before Dipper shaded by the gnarled branches of the trees.

TRUST NO ONE.

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**OH GOD THE IRONY OF IT ALL**

**If you liked it, please review, if you review, it will continue! Haha! Poetry. *sighs***

**Well anyway, just...concrit, opinions, IDEAS (OMG guys I need some ideas here!), etc, just comment away or PM!**

**Thanks for reading,**

**-Squeeb100**


	2. New Beginnings

**Hello again! I was so surprised that people liked this so much and now I'm so nervous that I'm going to disappoint you. This chapter is a setup for the rest of the story, so it's a bit odd. I hope you like it!**

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_It's been a whole night since I made the deal. I have returned to the Mystery Shack for provisions, and am now prepared to follow Bill Cipher to my destiny. This empty journal was something that I grabbed along the way. It will be the first installment in my own series of journals, separate from the original ones. Better than the original ones. I will also be filling it with records of my own experiences, and drawing pictures of what I find. This entry is just something to start._

_I went through our old room to get it. Mabel was sleeping in there with Waddles. She looked so innocent and sweet, no one would have guessed the treason she's capable of. But still, I can't help but wonder: is this really what I want? Do I want revenge on her and Stan? I certainly want them to see how I feel about them, but I don't want to hurt them. Bill seems to want to destroy them, however, and I'm not entirely sure what to do about it. Do I trust him? _

_Stan was in the living room. I had to sneak past him. I don't know where the author is. Nobody seems to be upset thus far about my disappearance. They probably didn't even notice when I slipped away after the portal closed. I'm certainly curious about what they were doing with the portal in the first place, and how the author got stuck in there, but I'll find out on my own. Mabel can ask the questions. I'll do all the thinking. As of now, I absolve my bonds from everyone but myself. Surely there are loads of secrets that no one has ever-_

Dipper's hand paused over the paper as Bill Cipher appeared. He quickly slapped the notebook shut as the triangle leaned over his shoulder.

"Get out of my space," Dipper muttered.

"Pine Tree, I'm not in your space. Your space is my space now. We have a deal – I'm bound to you until the treaty is resolved and our pact is broken. Same goes for you – your space is my space as long as we're together."

"Great."

The two were situated in the basement of the Mystery Shack, sitting in the charred remains of the portal. Dipper didn't know why he had returned to the lab, but there was some kind of sick comfort to be found in the place where his heart had been shattered. It was surely sunrise by now, though, and he knew that they should leave before his family awoke.

As if speaking Dipper's thoughts (as he very well may have been), Bill suddenly floated over to the door. "We better get going, kid. There's a long road ahead of us, and your very grumpy uncle stands between us and it. Nobody's up yet, so we should leave now."

"Alright." as much as Dipper hated being told what to do, he knew that it was wise to do what the demon suggested. He heaved himself to his feet, slinging a backpack over his shoulder. It held water, soda, granola bars, clean clothes, a few blank notebooks, extra pencils, a magnifying glass, and all of the other necessities for uncovering the mysteries of Gravity Falls.

As softly as humanly possible, Dipper moved up the stairs and pushed the vending machine open, suddenly envying Bill's ability to float soundlessly over the ground. The two crossed the gift shop, pausing to cringe as a floorboard creaked, and proceeded out the front door. The bell jingled (they had both forgotten the bell), and Dipper quickly slammed the door shut and took off across the lawn to hide in the woods.

Moments later the door opened and Grunkle Stan peered out to look around. Shrugging, he yawned and withdrew back into the shack. It was strange to see him act so naturally when the entire shack was in shambles from the gravity anomalies that _he _had caused.

"Where to next?" Dipper hissed the question to Bill, who was examining a leaf on the ground. The triangle turned away from his discovery to look at Dipper.

"We gotta go through town to get there," he explained. "I'm going to hide once we get close, but I'll still be with you. So don't freak out. Act natural."

"Freak out," Dipper muttered. "Yeah, like I'd ever do that."

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The town of Gravity Falls was in complete disarray – Dipper supposed that this was why no one had come to arrest Stan yet. The citizens had retreated into what was left of their homes, but social workers and policemen were still milling about and investigating everything. In the time that Dipper had spent in the town, he had been amazed at the incompetence of anyone who had any authority. The town was full of rednecks and idiots, and yet he loved it.

No, not loved.

Felt...a vague sense of attachment. He was attached to it. Why shouldn't he be? He'd had a tough family life until he came here, where suddenly it was peaceful. Everyone was welcoming, even if they were idiots.

Due to the fact that everyone was completely focused on trying to figure out what the hell had happened to destroy _every building in the town,_ Dipper easily slipped by. Bill had explained to him that their destination lay in the forest beyond the town, a place that Dipper had never before explored. Excitement made him lightheaded. He wondered why he had never been out there before.

"Great job, kid," Bill congratulated Dipper when he reappeared after they had cleared the town.

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Those people are such idiots. They were so focused on their stupid stuff that they didn't even notice me. Why don't they look for answers somewhere else? They're obviously not going to find anything here!"

"That's what sets you apart from them, city boy. You know where to look for things – that's what makes you so smart for coming to me!"

"I'm smart even without you."

"But I know how to get things. And every genius needs a guy who knows how to get things."

"I guess," Dipper agreed.

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_The forest beyond the town is strange. At first it looks like any other part of Gravity Falls, but now that we're deeper in and have stopped for the night I'm seeing really strange things. I've included pictures and descriptions of things that I've already found – there are mushrooms out here that glow, and they release their spores at night. They come in several colors and they grow on the ground, in the trees, and in other places where you don't realize they are until night falls and they light up like lanterns. It's beautiful, especially now, as I'm writing this._

Dipper paused for a moment. _Mabel would love this,_ he wrote, but quickly remembered and scratched it out, frowning.

_I'm excited to see what else awaits me out here. There's so much that no one has ever noticed, and it's exhilarating to think that I could be the first person who ever stopped to notice these things. Other people wouldn't look as hard, and they would miss these beautiful moments that I see. I admit that I'm always moving too quickly, and that I'm often too far in my own head to see these things. It was my sister who taught me to stop and see things in this light, and for that I am grateful. _

_I should get some rest. Bill told me that tomorrow, we're going to start out on our real journey, but he won't tell me what it is. I guess I'll just have to be patient. I'll write again tomorrow. ~The Author_

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**So if you read this, hello again! You guys are amazing, and thanks to everyone who favorited or followed or REVIEWED! Please give me tips on how to improve or ideas for where the heck this is even going (please guys I need the helps)!**

**It's still break, so I'm writing more than usual. I kind of cranked this out, though, so...uh, it's not the best. I didn't know what to really do to bridge between events so this kind of happened.**

**I feel like this chapter is really dull and badly written compared to the last one, but I promise the next one will be better. I'm also going to give Mabel the next chapter. Ya know, for diversity and hopefully a deeper story :)  
**

**For anyone who's a new reader: please enjoy! **

**Thanks for reading,**

**-Squeeb100**


	3. Sadness

**O Hai! New chapter! Hooray! I'm sorry I take so long and this is so short, I'm so super busy that I have little time to write (I'll be free from some commitments in a few weeks and that should make things easier).**

**Happy Easter to my Christian friends, happy normal Sunday to the rest of you!**

**I do not own Gravity Falls (Don't know if I put that in chapters before this but I am definitely not Alex Hirsch, and you should be glad that I'm not).**

**Please enjoy! And review. I NEED IDEAS PLEASE. PLEASE PLEASE.**

**PLEASE.**

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Sadness was a feeling nearly foreign to Mabel Pines, but in the past day she had become all too familiar with it. Sadness was the look in her Grunkle Stan's eyes as he begged her to listen to him, to trust him. Sadness was her tears as they refracted the light from the portal, suspended in midair. Sadness was the look on Dipper's face in the moments between desperation and anger. Sadness was the heavy, sucking black abyss that had found a seemingly permanent home in her chest.

Waddles didn't understand sadness, as human as Mabel liked to think he was. He would wander over to her, concerned, and root his head under her hand as she rubbed his ears absentmindedly. She knew that he was worried about her, but she wished he would leave her alone. She missed Dipper, and wanted him to be worried about her. She was worried about him. She needed to talk to him. Where was he? Was he okay? Mabel knew her brother, and she knew how irrational he could be if he got upset or excited, like the time in the fourth grade when he'd received a detention for fighting another boy who teased him about the bruise on his cheek. It wasn't the teasing that had made Dipper angry. It was the context. He was teased and picked on all the time, but he was very sensitive about family matters.

Mabel sighed and curled up in a ball on her bed. She had hardly left it since Stan's twin brother had emerged from the portal, and was hoping that she wouldn't have to. She didn't know why, but she was almost angry at Stan for keeping his brother from his niece and nephew. She trusted her grunkle, this much was clear, but she had thought that in Gravity Falls, she had finally found a place where she could be told the truth. Clearly, she had never been farther from it. She had thought that Stan was just a little off, just a little like Dipper (who definitely took after him), just a bit stubborn, egotistical, with skewed morals. But he had kept everything from them. That was what made her mad. Not the situation with the portal and the fake ID's and the car accident itself, but the fact that it had been kept from her.

In fact, there was still so much she didn't know. Immediately after his arrival from the portal, Stan's twin had retreated to the magic carpet room, which had at one time belonged to him. That explained the untouched calendar, the dusty furniture – the room was like a time capsule, forever locked in 1982. While time went on for the rest of the world, its time had stopped. It was the same, the same as it had been thirty years ago when Stan's brother was lost in the portal.

When Stan's twin had left, Mabel had retreated to the room that she shared with her brother. She wanted to talk to Dipper about what she had chosen and why, but he had been gone. She had waited for him, and waited, but he had not returned. Her hopes that he had only left to mull things over slowly dimmed – he often went off alone when he got upset, but never in this type of situation. She wondered if he was going to come back at all, and so far he hadn't.

"Mabel, sweetie, please come downstairs," Grunkle Stan called as he knocked at the door for the fifth time that morning.

"I don't wanna," Mabel protested sullenly.

"You have to."

"I won't."

"I know we're all confused, but can we talk this over? I have Stanley downstairs and he wants to talk to you as well. We want to explain."

"Not without Dipper."

"We might have to talk without your brother," Stan replied. Mabel sighed and gave in to the realization that no one knew where Dipper was or when he would return, if he would return at all.

"Okay." Not bothering to change clothes (she was still in the same sweater and skirt she had worn the night before), Mabel opened the door and looked up at her great uncle. It was only moments before her eyes welled up and she rushed into his arms, wailing.

Taken by surprise, Grunkle Stan awkwardly wrapped his arms around his niece. "It's okay, sweetie. We're going to explain everything. Come with me," he murmured in an uncharacteristically soft voice. Mabel hiccuped and nodded, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her down the stairs.

Stan's twin, Stanley, was seated at the kitchen table, his back to the pair as they entered the room. He looked up from his cup of coffee, which he had been examining intensely, and smiled softly when he saw Mabel. "Hi, sweetie," he greeted her in a way that suggested that they had known each other for years before this moment. "Wow. I can't believe you're actually here. That you're alive. I can't believe it's been thirty years, and that you exist. I never met you until now, my own granddaughter."

"Wait...you're...my grandpa?"

"Yeah, Mabel. Your dad's dad."

"Oh." Mabel said shortly, pausing in the doorway to take in this information. This was her grandpa. The one who had abandoned her father at seven years old, who had, her father had claimed, turned him into the man he was today. This was the man that had left his wife, Grandma Mabel, to fend for herself in raising her father and his sister.

"Come sit down, Mabel," Grunkle Stan directed her to a seat across from Stanley. She sat down and Stanford sat down between them, on another side of the table. Mabel looked expectantly at her grandfather.

"I like your sweater," Stanley complimented the girl after a moment. Then: "what year were you born?"

"2000," Mabel replied. She had always loved how her birthday was exactly on the two-thousandth calender year, and that she would never forget how old she was because her age would always correspond with the last three digits of the year (in case she ever turned a hundred years old and forgot).

"You're twelve," Stanley realized. "Wow. I'm so sorry."

"For what?" Mabel tilted her head in confusion.

"For missing it. The first twelve years of your life. And your father growing up. My research got in the way of my family life. I missed him getting older, graduating from high school, getting a girlfriend. I missed him marrying your mother. I saw a picture of her. She's beautiful. I missed the birth of you two twins, our successors. The mystery twins version two." he giggled a little at this, which Mabel thought was cute. "And I missed all of the years I could have spent with your grandmother. She was a beautiful soul. You're the spitting image of her, too."

"Then he told you?" Mabel indicated Grunkle Stan, who was sitting quietly, letting the two get to know each other.

"Yes," Stanley replied solemnly, looking down at his coffee again. Mabel pitied him. What must it be like to miss thirty years? To miss so much happening, to come back to realize that your wife is dead and then meet your niece, twelve years old, who looked just like her. "He caught me up with the times. A lot's happened."

"Yes," Grunkle Stan spoke for the first time. "So much. And I never stopped trying to bring you back."

"Stanford told me that you're the reason that I'm here at all," Stanley remembered. "Thank you so much."

"I don't really want to talk about it," Mabel said. She was still confused about Dipper and didn't want to talk about anything until he returned. It seemed like betrayal to do it otherwise. Besides, she felt almost guilty about her choice; it was surely part of what had upset her brother so much. She tried to change the subject. "Aren't Soos and Wendy going to be here soon for work?"

"Mabel," Grunkle Stan looked at her meaningfully, "nothing will make sense until we talk a little bit about what happened. Can we please talk about it? It will really help you."

"But Soos..."

"It's a Sunday, Mabel."

"I don't mind talking about it," Mabel admitted quietly. "I just feel bad doing it without Dipper. He's spent all summer trying to figure this out, and it would be mean for me to do it without him."

"Sweetie, I don't know when Dipper is coming back. I think it will be good for you to hear about this, and you might need to in order to forgive me."

"But what if he _doesn't_ come back?" Mabel asked, looking up with concern in her eyes. "What if he's gone? What if something happened to him?"

"Mabel, he'll be okay," Grunkle Stan reassured her gruffly. "He's just throwing a temper tantrum. I saw him run off this morning – he came back here overnight but ran off at dawn. He's still nearby, and he's still okay."

Mabel sighed in relief. Dipper was fine. He was just upset. He had run off before; usually, if he got into an argument with their father, he would disappear. Sometimes he'd leave for hours on end and pace the clearing near their house, thinking things over and cooling off. One time he was gone overnight, causing their mother to nearly have a panic attack, but he had always come back.

"I'm glad," Mabel replied. "I was worried that he would do something stupid," she admitted.

"Is it okay for me to tell you about the portal now?" Stanley asked.

"Yes," Mabel consented. "I would love to hear about it."

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**A quick note: I am very much using headcanons and personal speculation for a lot of this because obviously Gravity Falls is taking a little break right now after Not What He Seems, so this is going to be a little off in the future when more show happens. But I hope it can be enjoyed now.**

**Thanks for reading! ONCE AGAIN: MY MUSE IS ON A LOOONNGGG VACATION OR SOMETHING AND I CAN'T SEEM TO THINK OF ANYTHING, SO PLEASE HELP ME KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING TO END UP.**

**Thank you to _Gam919, Monsterhighcleoaddict, and Blind-Eyephone_ for reviewing!**

**Have a great day,**

**-Squeeb100**


	4. 1982

**Sorry this took so long. I've been so busy, but I'm done now, so only laziness can (and will) keep us apart. I don't know if this chapter is any good, so please review, as always!**

**I do not own Gravity Falls.**

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"It was a dark night, the night that it began. July fourth, 1982. It was windy; I can remember the sound of the wind against the sides of the shack. It was raining, too. The ceiling of our lab was leaking, and Fiddleford was the appointed collector of buckets and other containers to catch the drips.

"We were all elated. The coordinates were set. Everything was in place for the three of us to enact our plan; there was no going back, and we knew it. Tethering ourselves to the ground to avoid any gravity mishaps, we flipped the lever. The countdown began. Stanford nearly fainted."

"Now wait a minute," Stanford interrupted indignantly. "I was not about to faint. I was as ready as either of _you_ to see what was going to come through that portal."

"I was kidding, Stan."

"Yeah, _sure _you were."

"_Either way,_ the clock was counting down, and we were elated. That's what I said, right? Elated is a good word. Alright. All of our preparations and calculations fell into place that night, and my heart raced as I watched it work. It had been a strange dream up until that moment, but then...then I knew that we had done it. That I had finally made something that functioned properly, and that we three lucky men...we were about to learn the secrets of the entire universe."

"Yeesh, you should write a novel, Shakespeare," Stanford interrupted his twin again. "No one uses the words 'elated' or 'functioned.'"

"Not unless they're smart. And Shakespeare was a playwright, and never wrote a novel."

"Oh, Shakespeare is Einstein now, too. Good Lord, we have a prodigy on our hands," Stanford scoffed.

"Shh!" Mabel put a finger to her lips. "Let him tell the story. I want to hear it for Dipper, so I can tell him when he gets back."

"I was there too, you know!"

Stanley cleared his throat, and the argument ceased as he resumed his account of the events that had taken place thirty years before. "My heart was in my throat – that is, until things started getting odd. Fiddleford turned to me and insisted that the monitors were going wild, that the readings were off the charts. I didn't believe him, but I floated over to assess the situation."

"Pfft...floated."

"Assess. Really?"

"Yes. I floated over to assess the situation, and was blown away by the readings. The portal was at full power, straining, almost. Radiation levels, magic levels...the device was even overheating! That was when we started to panic. What had we ensnared in the portal? And why hadn't we thought this through more carefully while it was still just a blueprint?

"All we could do was wait until the timer reached zero. It did, and it went off...there was a flash of light and then..."

"Wait, wait." Mabel interrupted, looking skeptical. "Isn't there a red button?"

"Red button?"

"Yeah, a whole big red button that we had the whole floaty fight over? You know, when Grunkle Stan was like 'oohhhh, noooo, dooon't press the buttonnnn, Mabellll!' and Dipper was all 'PRESS THE BUTTON MABEL PRESS IT HE'S LYING!' and Grunkle Stan was all 'nooooooooooOOOOOO! TRUUUSTTT MEEEEE~!' and Dipper was, like, screaming, and-"

"I installed the button, Mabel," Stanford interrupted.

"MABEL ARE YOU CRAZY WE'RE...all...goanna...what now?"

"I installed it when I was rebuilding the machine. As a precaution in case Stanley somehow failed and the same thing happened again," Stanford clarified.

"Ohhhh. Okay. What same thing?"

"The one," Stanley sighed, "that I was about to reiterate to you. Before I got interrupted."

"Sorry. Continue, please."

"Thank you.

"So, there was a flash of light, which partially destroyed the portal, and then a hideous effeminate cackle-"

"Seriously?"

"I apologize, dear brother, but I ask that you allow me to embellish the story a bit. You have know idea how boring it is being stuck in the Dreamscape for thirty years.

"So, the cackle, and then a figure appeared: a triangle. Gee, that sounded a lot more ominous in my mind. Anyway, a triangle appeared, and proceeded to formally introduce himself as a creature hailing from the Dreamscape: Bill Cipher."

"Oh, that triangle guy!" Mabel nearly jumped out of her seat in excitement before clapping her hands over her mouth and sitting again. "Sorry," she said, voice muffled.

"Bill was very courteous at first, and appeared willing to please. He assured us that he knew lots of things. In fact, he said that he held all the knowledge of the universe! Of course, being the fool that I then was, I fell right into his trap. He said that all I had to do-"

"Was shake his hand," Mabel finished gravely, her serious mood returning as quickly as it had left her.

"I take it you've already met, then?"

"Yeah."

"In that case, the situation is graver than I suspected," Stanley said, his brow furrowed in thought. Stanford nodded quietly.

"Well, I took his hand, eager to learn of the universe's secrets, and eager to reach the goal that I had worked for. But when he shook my hand, he created a contract that had not been previously mentioned. I would prefer not to go into detail, but...he caused a good deal of terror when he made a contract binding him to earth..."

"Binding?"

"He can't be part of this dimension for more than a few moments without a binding contract made with a human being. That's why he's always so desperate to go around shaking hands. But when he is in this dimension for even a few hours, his influence..." Stanley shuddered and shook his head, as if to clear it of bad memories. "It wasn't a good day. Knowing that there was no time to waste, I quickly edited my journals in case they fell into the hands of another poor soul one day...but I didn't burn them, no. I needed them because of what I was about to do. So I edited the journals and hid them around the shack in the hopes that someday, one of my accomplices would find them and save me from the Dreamscape."

"So...you planned to go in there?" Mabel cocked her head, confused. "Why?"

"Because of Bill's contract. I had no time to think of anything else to do, not with Bill running rampant as he was. He had a contract with me, a being of this dimension, which is why he was able to maintain a solid form here. I made a gamble and placed all my bets on the theory that if I left this dimension, Bill would have no choice but to follow. I told Stan and Fiddleford of my plan-"

"Which we _both_ rejected at first, might I add," Stanford interjected.

"And eventually convinced them to send me through the portal. I told them to find the journals and fix the portal using the blueprints, knowing that sending both Bill and me through would destroy what was left of it, and allow me to come back through. I planned to sever my bond with Bill in the Dreamscape."

"Did you ever have to?" asked Mabel.

"No. He can only have one contract at a time, and any former contract dissolves whenever he makes a new one."

"Convenient," Stanford grunted.

"Well, he had no use for me when I was in the Dreamscape, after all."

"True."

"So that was why Grunkle Stan wanted so badly to find the books and open the portal," Mabel decided. "I'm sorry I almost ruined that. To think, after thirty years..."

"I don't want to," Stanford grimaced.

"But Grandpa," Mabel asked, causing Stanley to start at the use of the familiar name, "what did Bill do that was so bad? In the few hours that he was out?"

"I can't tell you that right now, Mabel," Stanley replied. "However, I can warn you of one thing., and that is:

"Never trust Bill Cipher."

* * *

**WELL OKAY THEN, H.I.**

**(I don't own Raising Arizona either)**

**That was weird. Please note that, obviously, ALL OF THIS IS SPECULATION. AND NOT CANON. SO IT WILL BE REALLY FAR FROM THE MARK BY THE TIME THE SHOW RESUMES.**

**Or maybe not. We'll see.**

**Anyway, yeah. **

**See you later,**

**-Squeeb100**


	5. Trust

**OH MY GOSH GUYS I'M SORRY. I honestly just got out of school for summer today (YASSSS) and looked at this story and realized that I hadn't updated it in a MONTH and OMG WHAT. So I decided to throw a little...thing...out to satisfy y'all. Honestly, this really is important, it's just something that had no place and that ended up being really short PLEASE DON'T HATE ME. I PROMISE I'LL BE GOOD.**

**ANYHOOW I don't own Gravity Falls.**

**AND IT'S COMING BACK IN JULY.**

**WHICH MEANS THIS STORY WILL BECOME IRRELEVANT AU MATERIAL.**

**BUT ALSO MORE GRAVITY FALLS.**

**VERY MIXED FEELINGS, GUYS.**

* * *

Dipper was violently jarred from sleep by a shrill, screeching cry. His eyes popped open to reveal that he was surrounded by hideous creatures. They were indescribable – he saw them, but he couldn't process what he saw (it didn't help that it was still dark, and he could only barely see what was in front of him by the light of the mushrooms). It was intensely frustrating.

That, however, was not the greatest of his worries. The scream had clearly erupted from the lungs of one of the monsters standing before him, and the pack of them – about five, by Dipper's quick and sloppy calculations – were advancing, stalking him. Dipper, panicked, scooted himself back against the tree that he had been sleeping under. Bill was nowhere to be seen.

"Bill? Uh, Bill?" Dipper glanced around, searching for his comrade. He was unarmed and only half the size of the smallest demon. "Bill? I'm kinda goanna die, here!"

Heeding the boy's call, Bill appeared in a flash of light that caused both Dipper and the monsters to cringe. Dipper didn't quite catch what happened next, but momentarily the light dimmed, leaving just him and Bill in the clearing. He gasped a sigh of relief.

"Whoah there, Pine Tree. Keep out of trouble while I'm gone," the demon reprimanded the boy, slapping his hands together to clear them of imaginary dust.

"I literally did nothing. I was sleeping, and boom. Monsters."

"Keep out of trouble," Bill repeated.

"I – uh." Dipper sighed. "Where were you anyway? This wouldn't have happened in the first place if you'd been there."

"I was just doing some business in the Dreamscape. That's where we're headed to. That's where you'll end up, once all the preparations are made."

"We're going to the Dreamscape?"

"Yep. But you can't get in unless we enter at the right point between the dimensions."

"Oh."

"You should go back to sleep, Pine Tree," Bill said. "You'll need your energy for tomorrow. We have a lot to do."

"But I'm not finished," Dipper complained. Bill glared at him, but allowed him to continue. "Those...monsters..."

"Demons," Bill corrected him.

"Demons. They were weird – I saw them, but I didn't. That sounds weird," Dipper chuckled. "Maybe I was just tired."

"No, that's what should happen," Bill reassured the boy. "Those were demons from the Dreamscape. It's a separate dimension, so the forms that we naturally take there are incomprehensible to humans when in the human dimension."

"So I'll be able to see them clearly in the Dreamscape?"

"Yep. But not here. That's why I appear as a triangle – so that humans can see me. Plus, I'm fabulous as a triangle. It's quite a dashing shape, don't you agree? I just-"

"If those demons were from the Dreamscape," Dipper interrupted, "then why did they attack us?"

"Oh...well, uh, that was because...Kid, not all demons are as friendly as yours truly, especially towards humans," Bill answered after wrestling with his words for a moment. "Now go to sleep."

"But why-"

"GO TO SLEEP!" Bill erupted in flames, which died down quickly when Dipper jumped and curled up under the tree once again. "Good," Bill cooed. He waited until Dipper's breathing slowed to teleport back into the Dreamscape, smirking.

* * *

Five demons were seated around a round table, the smell of foreign liquor lacing their breaths as they slammed money down – they didn't take any notice when Bill appeared.

"Damn it, Steve! Snake eyes _again?_" One asked in disbelief as he shoved his money across the table.

"What do I say, Joe?" Steve replied, shrugging. "It's luck. I must have been born with it." A fight quickly erupted at the table; several alcoholic beverages were tipped over, soaking the rug and padded chairs and shattering glass.

"Hey, hey, fellas," Bill interrupted. "Great job out there."

Steve and Joe paused, hands at each other's throats, to turn and look at the tall, well-dressed demon standing over them.

"Gee, took you long enough," a third demon said sarcastically.

"Shut it, Marcie," Bill snapped. "I told you already, time passes differently between dimensions. It's literally been like five minutes for me. Calm down."

"I expect to be paid double for the trouble," Marcie muttered sullenly, crossing her arms and sinking down into her sodden chair.

Bill strutted around the table and removed Steve and Joe from each other's vital organs. "Let's not fight, boys. Not after such a great job."

"Bill," Steve grunted with a glare. "All we had to do was teleport into that filthy dimension, pretend to be a threat, and then be _humiliated _by pretending to be beaten by _you, _and teleport home. Wasn't exactly that hard."

"Well then. I assume you won't mind if I dock your pay for...attitude problems, then, will you?" Bill chuckled, throwing his hands up in surrender when Joe lunged for his throat. "Calm down! It was a joke! I promised you fifty rubles each, didn't I? Well," he snapped his fingers, "there they are. Right on the table. Now can we please calm down? And _put me _down?"

Joe immediately realized that he had lifted Bill several feet in the air by the collar of his shirt, and placed him back on the floor gingerly.

"Thank you. So there you go, 250 rubles to squander gambling. Now, if I may, I'll be taking my leave of you. Adieu!" With a tip of his hat, Bill teleported back into the human dimension.

* * *

Dipper opened one eye to see that Bill was gone. He grinned and removed his journal and a pencil from his backpack and began to write by the light of the nearest mushroom:

_I was attacked this morning by five demons from the Dreamscape (I have included a picture to the left) →_

_I was defenseless, but Bill Cipher teleported in just in time to fight them off and save me. I have little doubt at this point in my choice of comrade; if Bill was willing to fight off his own kind for me, then I would be a fool not to trust him._

_He says that I will be going to the Dreamscape, but only when we reach a point of convergence between the dimensions. I can't wait to see what lies in store there. More to come._

_\- The Author_


	6. An Idea

**You're going to be so mad...this is short. Sorry. I had writer's block. And had to force this out. I'm trying so hard, I promise. *cries_* _**

**I already mentioned this in my other story, but I'm pretty sure that Gravity Falls and Soul Eater are different enough that no one from here is reading that, and vice versa. So I will reiterate: I'm going to be busy for the next almost five weeks. So I'm really going to try to update both stories, but that said, I don't know how it will go. I'll try to write some stuff ahead of time so when I go on my three week vacation I can update. But I really don't know how it will go. I guess if you need some inconsequential details, look at the author's note in chapter two of Initium Novum.**

**And let me know about the length of chapters. Is this length good? I don't want it too short, but I can't make it drag on either. Let me know. **

**I don't own Gravity Falls.**

**Also. I MADE IT PAST FIVE CHAPTERS. HALLELUJAH (anyone who knows me knows that I can never write six chapters of a story, so this is great. It's all the support, I swear).**

* * *

Three days had passed and Dipper had not yet made his reappearance. Mabel, worried, had taken to pacing the halls between the front door, their attic room, and the back door, constantly checking and re-checking each to be sure that her brother hadn't returned without her knowledge. It was on one of these many trips (which had grown more panicked and faster-paced as time progressed) that she ran headfirst into her grandfather.

"I'm sorry!" Mabel apologized wholeheartedly from the ground, staring up at him. She wiped her eyes with an oversized sweater sleeve. "I wasn't watching where I was going!"

Smiling gently, Stanley bent down and offered her his hand. She took it hesitantly – it was large and warm and calloused, and...safe. "It's fine, honey. Don't cry about it – if anyone's hurt, it's you," he reassured her. "You don't seem the type to cry much, Mabel," he noticed. "Do you want to talk?"

No, Mabel didn't want to talk. Not to _him_. She wanted to talk to Dipper, to see him, to know that he was okay. But he wasn't here, she didn't know where he was, and frankly, anything seemed better than pacing the Mystery Shack waiting for something that probably wouldn't happen to take place. "Okay," she replied sullenly. Still holding her hand, Stanley guided her to his room and flipped the light switch. The dim lights flickered twice before faintly illuminating the room.

"These lights," Stanley grumbled. "Probably from 1970. I really need to get these replaced." He

turned to his granddaughter. "You can hop up and sit on the bed." Stanley indicated a small couch in the corner. "Everywhere else is..." he gestured vaguely to the floor, littered with various dust-coated items from the past. "Taken," he finished after a moment of thought. Nodding, Mabel clambered onto the bed, using her hands to fan away the resulting cloud of dust.

"Have you even slept here?" she asked, shifting around in an attempt to get comfortable.

"Not really."

"Not really?"

"No," Stanley admitted.

"Why not?"

"I had to move the carpet..." he jerked his thumb toward the Electron Carpet, which stood, rolled up, in the corner. It had clearly only taken a few minutes to move. Mabel tilted her head suspiciously, then suddenly noticed the massive amount of crumpled up papers that littered the floor among the wreckage from the 1980's. She looked at one, then back at Stanley, then back at the paper.

"What's that?" She asked him when he didn't react. He sighed, running a hand through his already ruffled hair.

"You're relentless," he informed her.

"Thanks," she replied, still staring at the paper. "But what is it?"

"It's a plan," he said. "I'm trying to figure out how to get your brother back."

"Grunkle Stan said that he'd come back in his own time," Mabel reminded her grandfather.

"I know that's what he said, but he doesn't know everything that goes on here. I'm not saying I do either, but I'm worried about Dipper."

"Why? Why are you worried?"

"Because he's too much like my brother, and too much like me. A terrible mixture when it comes down to situations like this. He's stubborn and prideful – and that can be good," he amended his speech when he noticed Mabel's indignant expression, "but not now."

"What?"

"You mentioned Bill Cipher – you may think he's inconsequential, but he's had beef with the Pines family – and all of the human race – since our first encounter with him. Your brother is the perfect person for Bill to exact his revenge on. He'll follow his gut, and if Bill plays his cards right..." Stanley sighed, sitting down next to Mabel and looking her in the eyes. "I haven't told anyone. I didn't want anyone to get worried. But I didn't explain what happened when Bill made a contract with me, and it wasn't very pretty."

"Can you...can you tell me?" Mabel asked, a bit expectant and a bit fearful at the same time.

"I don't want to right now," Stanley said.

There was a moment when Mabel couldn't think of a question; that resulted in an awkward silence until she piped up again. "If you didn't want to tell me, then why did you bring me in here? You should have known that I would see your floor papers. And I like asking questions about floor papers."

Stanley chuckled in spite of himself. "I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe I wanted you to ask questions."

"Huh?"

Stanley ignored the confused sound and continued. "Mabel?" he waited until she nodded before speaking again. "I want you to promise me something. You know your brother best. I want you to think of what you feel would help him the most, and do it. For his sake. Alright?"

"Okay," Mabel agreed. "I will."

* * *

_What would help Dipper the most?_ Agreeing to her grandfather's requests was far easier than carrying them out, Mabel found. She had been sitting on her bed for at least an hour, staring at the opposite wall. She had absolutely no idea where to start. Usually if Dipper was angry, Mabel either had to wait until it blew over or talk to him about it. The latter was clearly not an option, and the former had been her initial plan until she had realized how urgent it was that they get Dipper back.

_Do what would help your brother the most._ The instructions were so vague. There was nowhere to start, and Mabel found herself at a complete loss. Sighing, she picked up her dusty scrapbook of summer romances and flipped through the pages. _Boys are weird. _She had never understood them. She thought she did, but that mindset had only managed to scare the entire male populace of Gravity Falls in the opposite direction. Dipper probably wasn't any different.

Suddenly, an idea sparked in her mind. She told herself that it was for her brother, but suspected that it was a coping mechanism for herself. She searched frantically for a pen, scattering office supplies everywhere in the process. Finally appeased by a hot pink highlighter, she sat back on her bed and opened to the next blank page of her scrapbook. She smiled, and began to write.

* * *

"Bill, how much farther do we have to go?" Dipper yelled, raising his voice to that he could be heard over the wind that buffeted the cliff.

"Not long, Pine Tree," the demon replied. "But it's taking longer with you here!"

"Well excuse me for lacking the ability to float," Dipper growled, clinging to the crumbling rocks and trying not to look down into the gorge below. "How high are we?"

"Fifty feet. It's not high. You'd die if you fell, though," Bill informed the brunette.

"Thanks," Dipper replied, hands shaking. "I'm literally terrified right now," he continued shuffling along the narrow mountain pass until the wind let up. They had entered a calm cave, the entrance facing away from the violent wind. A faint whistling could still be heard, but it was drowned out by the sound of rushing water. A faint purple glow came from deep within the cavern. Dipper stood in the entrance, jaw agape.

"What's wrong?"

"I never knew this was here," Dipper whispered. "It's...wow. I've looked at this mountainside all summer and never knew this was here."

Bill chuckled. "Just wait 'till we get deeper, Pine Tree."


	7. The Cavern

As the two traveling companions ventured deeper into the cavern, the sound of running water became the sound of _rushing_ water, and the walls began to glisten with moisture. Stalactites and stalagmites jabbed from the ceiling and floor, dripping with water. Dipper, exhilarated by the discovery of the cave, was keeping a running journal entry, stopping and stooping over to draw every bug and rock, and standing on tiptoe to capture his discovery of every bat on paper. Bill rolled his eye.

"We'd be there by now, Pine Tree, if you'd get a move on," the demon called back to his partner.

"Shhh," was the only response he received, as the young author leaned over to draw a glowing salamander. Finishing his quick sketch, the boy trotted over to Bill and walked beside him. "Okay. All done."

"Yeah, until the next moon puddle or leaf butterfly we come across," Bill muttered.

"Wait...leaf butterflies?"

"Yeah, with the little leaves for wings and their woven twig bodies and...wait." Bill paused. "That's not the point! I need you paying attention here. I'm kind of running on a tight schedule. We need to get to the Dreamscape, and soon."

"Schedule?"

"Don't worry about it. Just gotta get you in there. You won't believe the kind of stuff you'll find."

"But why are you on a tight schedule?"

"It doesn't matter!" Bill cried, exasperated. "Just stop asking questions and writing stuff down. We have one chance to do this, so we have to do it right, which means that we have to reach the center of the mountain by midnight, which means we have to _hurry up_. So no more drawing."

"But-"

"No buts. You'll have _plenty_ of time to draw later."

"Fine." Dipper slapped his journal shut as the two came to a fork in the path. Bill quickly chose the left tunnel; it wasn't long after they turned that the path began to slope dramatically downwards. It wasn't dark, however. Every step Dipper took strengthened the pale purple glow that was emanating from the depths of the cavern. "What's that?" he asked, turning to the triangle floating next to him. Bill blinked.

"You'll see soon enough," Bill said, a smirk in his voice. Dipper shrugged and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling. The stalactites were hanging lower now, the points brushing Dipper's hat at times, but they were no longer of the yellowish sodium color that they had been nearer to the entrance of the cave. They had become a pristine white, and were becoming clearer and more gem-like as the two traveled deeper and deeper.

It wasn't long after this discovery that the air began to thin.

"Bill?"

"Yeah, Pine Tree?"

Dipper frowned. "First off, stop calling me that."

"Calling you what?"

"Pine Tree. It's annoying and disrespectful and weird. We're partners. I call you Bill. You call me Dipper."

"Okay, Pine Tree. Now what was your question?"

"Dipper."

"Okay, _Dipper,_ what was your question?"

"How much deeper are we going?" Dipper asked. "It's getting difficult to breathe-"

The words had barely come out of his mouth when a gust of cool, fresh air hit him. He looked around; they had entered onto a ledge in a gigantic cavern.

"We're here," Bill said shortly. "Now come along. We haven't got much time." With these few words, he floated away, motioning for Dipper to follow him down what appeared to be a spiral staircase hewn from the walls of the cavern. Dipper, however, hadn't moved since setting foot on the ledge. He was too busy scribbling in his notebook, writing and drawing all about the sensory overload that the cavern was host to.

The floor of the cavern was at least twenty feet down from the ledge on which he stood, but he could see it clearly due to the glowing of a large crystalline structure in its center. The faint purple light it cast off illuminated the water that filled the bottom of the cavern, and the small, flower-carpeted island from which the structure originated. From there it stretched up past the ledge and toward the ceiling, its points reaching up to meet with the crystal-encrusted hole through which the fresh night air was filtering. Small waterfalls burst from the cavern walls (which were also studded with small purple and blue crystals) and tumbled down into the basin at the bottom with a raucous crashing sound.

"Shut your jaw, Pi – uh, Dipper. Stop gaping. We're going now. The full moon is tonight, and we have to reach the bottom of that crystal before it's at it's height."

Dipper quickly complied; however, his gaze was still flicking between the cavern and his paper as he attempted to document it. "Sorry, I just never knew that this place was here...and it's been under our noses this whole time..."

"A lot of times you can't find something unless it's shown to you. A lot of things are hidden for a reason."

"But it's just so...I don't know. Who made this?"

"Nature. Or our forefathers. Not sure. I just found it."

"How?"

"Curiosity, Pine- Dipper."

"Pine Dipper?"

Bill ignored his companion's wrinkled nose. "I'm a lot like you. You know, you don't figure out the secrets of the universe by sitting and doing nothing."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means that only with a bit of snooping can you find what you're looking for. You remember, don't you? Your uncle's room, his papers? Without all that, you wouldn't be here, and-"

"_Don't_ bring him into this," Dipper growled, slamming the journal shut. "Just don't."

"Remember, he's the reason for this. The reason you're doing this, right? For revenge?"

"Yes, I...I guess, I just-"

"Stop!" Dipper ran into Bill as he halted abruptly. "We're here. Just in time." They had reached the bottom of the cavern. Bill floated across the glowing water to the crystal island. "Come on."

"You should know by now that I don't float," Dipper said, crossing his arms.

"Swim."

"My stuff will get wet."

"Just-I-ugh." Bill rolled his eye and floated back across the water. "Climb on my back."

"What?"

"I'll float you across. Just do it."

Hesitantly, Dipper clambered onto the demon's back. Bill wobbled a bit, but didn't succumb to gravity. They floated haphazardly over the water, Dipper hanging on to Bill for dear life and squeezing his eyes shut.

"You can get off now," Bill grumbled. Dipper opened his eyes to see that they had safely crossed the water. Grinning sheepishly, he dismounted and walked over to examine the crystal structure. It was comprised of two main crystals, the ones reaching up to the ceiling, but several others of varying sizes jutted out around the base. When Dipper walked a circle around it, the luminescent blue and pink spots within it danced around, never staying in the same place. He ran his hand over its surface. It was cool to the touch, and rough with the faint grooves formed by foreign characters that had been carved into it.

"Are these the-"

"They're on your little portal, if that's what you're wondering. And no, they haven't always been there. Your uncle added them to the portal after his brother...unfortunately...vanished. Terrible accident."

"How did he find them?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?" Bill cried, throwing his hands up.

"Because you know the secrets of the universe," Dipper replied.

A pause. "Point made," Bill sighed. "Your uncle had written the characters in his journal after we had a little run-in. Ya know. Just to be safe and...stuff."

Dipper figured that asking what "stuff" meant was not going to get him anywhere, so he kept his mouth closed. Suddenly, a flash of light lit up the entire cavern. When Dipper's eyes adjusted, he saw that every crystal in the cavern, including the large one, was illuminated.

"Quickly! Touch the crystal! The moon is in optimum position!" Bill cried.

"I'm already touching the-"

Dipper didn't get to finish; a split second later, the world faded to white.


End file.
